Contributing to environmental impact reduction
through better relationships with business partners
The Ricoh Group, in developing its
global business activities, works to reduce its environmental impact
on society as a whole by promoting awareness of sustainable management
and supporting its partners in every stage of business: from suppliers,
to logistics companies, to recycling companies.
Suppliers
The Ricoh
Group provides sustainable management support
to suppliers around the world through green
procurement.
The Ricoh Group has drawn up ethics guidelines
for purchasing and trains personnel in managerial
positions at 15 production sites in Japan.
Periodic audits are carried out by internal
auditors at each supplier to ensure compliance
with the Law on the Prevention of Delay
in the Payment of Subcontracting Charges
and Related Matters. These audits have been
praised by the Fair Trade Commission and
the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency.
Logistics Companies
Ricoh Logistics System Co., Ltd.,
which is responsible for the Ricoh Group's logistics system, consigns
about 70% of its domestic delivery and collection business to subcontractors.
The company holds seminars on safe and economical driving and encourages
drivers at its partner companies, as well its own drivers, to participate.
The company also monitors the vehicles of major partner companies
through a global positioning system (GPS). This ensures safer transportation
and reduces environmental impact.
Recycling Companies
In 1999,
Ricoh Logistics System and Ricoh's Recycling
Business Division began producing joint
annual audits at 10 recycling centers and
a secondary treatment company in Japan.
These audits deal with such matters as compliance
of treatment processes with relevant laws
and regulations, health and safety management
of employees' work environment, the effects
of noise on the surrounding environment,
and manifest traceability. The audits help
improve business procedures at recycling
centers and establish the environmental
management system. As a result, all the
recycling centers had acquired ISO14001
certification in June 2002.
Earnest
Efforts on Patent Disclosure
Encouraging
more people to use products equipped with
environmentally friendly technologies, including
energy conservation technologies, can make
a contribution to society. Ricoh's disclosure
policy regarding its environment-oriented
patent is geared toward such a contribution.
To protect its sustainable management concept
and to actively promote the concept in society,
Ricoh has applied for a patent of its business
model*.
* The
patent application was filed in 2001 in
the name of its inventor, Masamitsu Sakurai,
the president of Ricoh. The concepts of
sustainable management
and the IT system-driven environmental accounting were combined in the patent
application.
Shareholders and Investors
Given the emergence of eco funds and socially
responsible investment (SRI), corporate evaluation in the stock market should
be based on profit, environmental conservation, social responsibility, and other
performance indicators. Ricoh is now listed on six stock exchanges including Tokyo,
Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris. To facilitate better communications with investors,
Ricoh holds shareholders' meetings in Japan, issues Japanese-language business
reports, English-language annual reports, and sustainability reports in both Japanese
and English. In fiscal 2001, Ricoh received the Information Disclosure Award for
Listed Companies from the Tokyo Stock Exchange for its easy-to-understand information
disclosure. In light of the changes in securities markets, it is increasingly
important to communicate effectively with individual investors. In fiscal 2002,
Ricoh Leasing Company Ltd. received an award from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in
recognition of its efforts to expand the number of individual investors in the
company. |
